 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Axel
Date: 2025-06-08 16:57
I wonder, whether the high costs of synthetic reeds are justified.
Surely the considerable effort required for the development of the reeds must be reflected in the costs. But the material value doesn't seem high, does it? Does anyone know, if the manufacturing process is particularly complex?
What do you think? Are the high costs justified overall, or are they simply asking for the price that can be achieved on the market, similar to what happened decades ago with compact discs?
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-06-08 19:13
There's more than one way to calculate whether an asking price is worth it.
One deals with the value to the buyer. Many players are drawn to synthetics because they may not be as good as their best cane, but they're far more consistent, and last longer. One of the most pricey elements of a player's day is their time. And time spent not having to select and adjust cane, not to mention deal with its inconsistencies with weather may be worth it to them.
Then there's the availability of substitutes. And in my humble opinion nobody has yet approached Legere's ability to approach cane, including Vandoren, who in my opinion is runner up by some stretch.
Another way to calculate price is just how much above the cost to make the product is being asked. As you mentioned, there is, like with pharmaceuticals, considerable research and development (and patent protection) that goes into creating the initial prototype, and it is only fair that this, along with the marginal cost of producing the "next reed" in an order of 10,000 of them, which I suspect is only a fraction of the creation cost, must be considered.
My late cantankerous father-in-law use to complain about the high prices of just about everything, including that he bought, that wasn't otherwise a necessity.
"So if you think that soda at the ball park was ridiculously expensive, why did you buy it," I'd tease him.
Of course his comparison of its price to that outside the park, which couldn't be brought in the park, better reflected the lack of monopoly the ball park vendor had.
Perhaps the same could be said of airline ticket prices. Bereavement flights notwithstanding, booking a flight the day before a trip is expensive because you are paying for convenience. The airline's seat sales modeling software leaves a certain number of seats available to not book months in advance, to hopefully capture top dollar on them, and involves the airline taking risk that they won't be sold on a flight where filling seats is a matter of survival.
Post Edited (2025-06-08 19:15)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-06-08 21:44
Wow, I just go by how much it costs to use something. When playing cane I pretty much used a $32 box of reeds every month. That comes to $384.00 per year. I have been using one $37.00 Legere reed for over a year now. That comes to………$37.00 per year. That’s a savings of $347.00 per year. Since math is not a strength of mine, I may be off a little on those numbers :-)
………….Paul Aviles
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Author: David H. Kinder
Date: 2025-06-08 22:16
Compared to what?
My Legere French Cut reed is far superior to the old Fibracell reed I had 30 years ago. Back then, that was about $20. We can adjust for inflation and that would be about $40 today.
Hmmm... superior product, yet comparable cost.
I also like that I don't have to work on them to make them work unlike cane reeds. Yes, I have TR's ATG system, but while it's meant for everyone, I'm still learning how to best use it.
So let's see:
- Comparable cost
- Consistent manufacturing
- Longevity
- Time savings for not having to adjust the reed
What is your time worth?
Ridenour AureA Bb clarinet
Ridenour Homage mouthpiece
Vandoren Optimum Silver ligature (plate 1)
Legere French Cut #4 / #4.25
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-06-08 23:48
I wanted to referback to my previous post to add some numbers to the "opposed" members of this community.
Yes, there is the cost of time and money finding the correct strength (not easy and takes weeks if not months to do this correctly). You do however have the Legere exchange (of four reeds per year) where they will just send you another reed. There is also the potential to refund through Amazon dealers. That used to be a given for quite a long time. Now, more and more vendors will not refund your purchase, or refund only a percentage.
Still, when you add that to perhaps not using as much cane as I did, OR using more Legeres in a given period than I, I strongly doubt you'd ever get to a negative differential where Legeres cost MORE than cane.
And the difference in performance to cane is now so small that it really is not a compromise for "convenience" or constancy.
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2025-06-09 00:01
My guess is they sell for a high price because that's what people will pay. If I lose my scuba certification card they charge over $50 now for a replacement, for a piece of plastic the size of a credit card.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: Ed
Date: 2025-06-09 01:45
For me, the synthetic reeds I have tried and used never played as well as cane. I also find that having a pretty good sense of how to work on my cane reeds and break them in, they last quite a while. I have struggled with the inability to adjust plastic reeds or to get consistency. (despite what peoples, they do vary)
*disclaimer* perhaps I just haven't found the right cut or strength of synthetic or it doesn't match my set up as well as I would like
Ultimately, for me, no it is not worth it and I see myself continuing to use cane.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2025-06-09 02:54
Bought a #3 Legere (my first synthetic reed). Can't get it play at all. I don't get synthetic reeds. I'd throw it out but I spent $40 on it.
They say "Spend more time on playing and less on reed adjustment." Oh please! The unique, individual voices of various cane reeds are the heart and soul of clarinetistry.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2025-06-09 02:58
"Are the high costs of synthetic reeds justified?"
Absolutely! (Not because I use synthetics - I don't, but because the market supports them where they are priced).
Other than areas where moral/ethical situations dictate otherwise (like medical and military, etc), a company should always charge as much as folks are willing to pay. That is what gives employees great benefits, great work environments, and investors a good return on their investiments.
So, as long as folks are buying them, and no one is dying or getting sick because of the processes of making them or using them...yes, they're worth the high cost.
I agree with Ed: cane is not a waste of time for me - I don't fiddle with reeds and I play without break-in periods (oh, the horror!) and etc. I hate to think there might be a day when cane reeds are no longer available.
Unlike Paul, a box of reeds will usually last me 6+ months (a year and a half?). In fact, when I lived at 7200+ feet elevation, it wasn't surprising to get 6+ months out of a single reed - daily playing. (Moving 2500 feet lower in elevation, I do find the reeds don't last as long. They give up after 2-3 months). I had never realized that before - evidently altitude must have some effect? I'm not sure of how/why this might be...but it would certainly explain why all/some of the reed rituals so cherished by some are eschewed by others.
Long live cane!
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-06-09 04:06
If you think how long a synthetic reed lasts in comparison to a cane reed (or a whole box of cane reeds for that matter), then the cost is indeed justified and probably works out less expensive in the long run.
Also add the time and money spend on research, development and manufacturing them.
And from what I gather, Legere synthetic cor anglais reeds will be with us soon and that's something I've been eagerly and desperately anticipating for an entire decade.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2025-06-09 04:09)
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Author: smokindok
Date: 2025-06-09 06:52
Chris P wrote:
>
> And from what I gather, Legere synthetic cor anglais reeds will
> be with us soon and that's something I've been eagerly and
> desperately anticipating for an entire decade.
>
Yes! Cor AND the long awaited American scrape oboe!!! Coming soon, I hope.
I’ve played dozens of productions, hundreds of performances, where every (single) reed in the pit was a Légère and I never heard any of my colleagues even once complain about the cost of Légères. Confidence in how an instrument is going to play, even after it has been setting untouched on its stand for 30 minutes greatly reduces anxiety at an insignificant cost.
A big “yes, the cost is justified,” because of this, in addition to the solid reasons already stated by other posters.
John
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